Future of compound fueling rumor mill

Saturday

Aug 29, 2009 at 2:00 AMAug 29, 2009 at 8:47 AM

HYANNISPORT — Friends and neighbors walked, jogged and lazed yesterday around the Kennedy family compound — something of a deep breath after three days, and 60 years, of suffocating in the national spotlight.

JAKE BERRY

HYANNISPORT — Friends and neighbors walked, jogged and lazed yesterday around the Kennedy family compound — something of a deep breath after three days, and 60 years, of suffocating in the national spotlight.

By noontime, the swarm of media representatives who had filled the streets earlier this week had moved on, and the police presence relocated. But even as the flood of visitors slowed to a trickle, rumors of plans to turn the compound into a museum or memorial site left residents wondering about the future of the neighborhood.

Spurred by a move from representatives of the Kennedy family to subdivide the property, speculation is rampant that the family, per the wishes of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, could turn portions of the compound over to a nonprofit group for use as a museum, a memorial or an education center.

Kennedy representatives and associates could not be reached yesterday for comment.

"You hear all these rumors, and you're not sure what to think," said Deborah Converse, president of the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce.

"There's so much history to that place," she said. "It would be a fabulous place to visit. But I don't really know if the community is built for it. ... We'll have to see what happens."

Some neighbors walking by the compound applauded the idea as an appropriate tribute to the fallen senator and his family, including brothers President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, both of whom had homes at the compound.

"That (compound) is a piece of American history," said Dennis Shea, of nearby Scudder Avenue. "People would like to know what's in there. I'd like to see inside myself."

But others, both neighbors and local community leaders, expressed concerns about taking the home from Kennedy hands.

The compound, in the family for more than 80 years, consists of three white clapboard master homes and two guest houses on 6 acres at the edge of Nantucket Sound.

Joseph and Rose Kennedy, parents to John, Robert and Edward, purchased the first home, at 50 Marchant Ave., in 1928. Ted Kennedy and his second wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, inhabited that home most recently.

Ted Kennedy added the second home, at 28 Marchant Ave., in 1955, selling it to his brother Robert and Robert's wife, Ethel, in 1961.

Finally, John Kennedy bought the third home, at 111 Irving Ave., in 1956 before he ascended to the presidency.

"I just think it should stay in the family," Mick Carlon of Hyannisport said yesterday as he walked past the compound. "It has meant so much to the family for so long. It just wouldn't feel right" if it belonged to someone else.

A full-scale museum would not fit right, either, into the small, residential community that inhabits the seaside neighborhood, others said yesterday.

Any changes to the home would have to meet town zoning codes, but because the properties fall in the Hyannisport Historic District, changes also would have to go before the town historic commission, and possibly the Cape Cod Commission for approval, according to historic commission chairwoman Barbara Flinn.

"Hyannisport is a village, and it's a very small one," said Rebecca Pierce-Merrick, co-founder and curator of the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum on Main Street. "It doesn't have the roads, the parking. ... (A museum) doesn't really fit in a community like that.

"It'll be interesting to see what comes of it, but for now, it's a private home. I hope that people can respect that."